Conte also told Gazzetta dello Sport he didn’t begin the season hoping to play 3-4-3 – but the much more attacking formation of 4-2-4.

He said: “My starting choice was 4-2-4. I wanted to repeat the script of Bari, Siena and initially at Juve. Then we switched to 3-5-2 and finally we hit on 3-4-3 because it’s the best shape for this team.

“Ideas are the basis of our work, but you have to take the characteristics of the players into account. I’ve always considered balance a fundamental skill for a team. The two phases, offensive and defensive, are equally important and interact with each other.

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“The first defenders are the strikers in terms of winning the ball back and the strikers often work on the movement of the defenders.

“I repeat though: Chelsea are being lauded now, but after defeats to Liverpool and Arsenal there was already talk about failure.”